Daryl Hall and John Oates Get Their Hollywood Star

Almost 45 years to the day when they first arrived in Los Angeles in a last-ditch effort to score a recording contract, Daryl Hall and John Oates were back in town last week to accept one of show business' most time-honored awards: a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.

Oates mentioned that first trip during his comments at the podium just before Hall stood up to talk about what it's like to be included among the pantheon of the other entertainment greats. Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, who produced Hall’s 1986 solo album, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, talked about how the duo influenced him after he saw them at a mid-'70s appearance in the U.K. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Greenberg, who played a part in signing Hall and Oates to their first recording contract back in 1971, also spoke.

Even though they were mostly associated with Philadelphia and New York City, Hall and Oates can also link their past to California. Back in the '70s, they recorded three albums in Los Angeles and have played every major venue there from the Roxy to the Santa Monica Civic to the Forum.

Hall and Oates don't seem to be slowing down. They're in the middle of a sold-out tour that will take them through most of 2016. They built their career on hit singles like "Rich Girl," "Private Eyes" and "I Can't Go for That” (No Can Do)," but they were also an album act. Going back to those formative '70s records, each included deep cuts that are every bit as catchy as the songs that made them famous.

For many longtime fans in attendance at the star's unveiling on Sept. 2, it's the duo's entire catalog that deserves rewarding. As an Ohio woman who was there said, "True Hall and Oates fans know that the best songs are the ones you don't hear on the radio. That's why I flew out here for today. To celebrate everything they've given us, not just all the brilliant hits.”